Scotland the Bread (STB) is a collaborative project to establish a Scottish flour and bread supply that is healthy, equitable, locally-controlled and sustainable. The idea is simple: to grow nutritious wheat and bake it properly close to home.

STB requires a shares investment of £30,000 by the end of August 2016, primarily to ramp up a programme of wheat breeding and research, improve nutritional standards and help more communities to make real bread for themselves.

Andrew Whitley, one of seven directors on STB’s founding board and owner of Bread Matters, is widely regarded as a leading authority on traditional bread making. At his organic agroforestry small-holding at Macbiehill near Peebles, he is growing more than forty trial plots of wheat, spelt, emmer, oats, rye and barley from seeds sourced from seed-banks around the globe including the Vavilov Institute in St Petersburg, NordGen in Sweden and the John Innes Centre in Norwich.

Andrew said: “We want to make things better – from the ground up. We are committed to developing the most nutrient-dense and digestible grains and bread possible, within the context and constraints of a changing climate. This innovative social business is setting a whole new agenda for cereal research and public health.”